Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 1084 Even being a farmhand is something people are scrambling to do: Earning money isn't easy!

The telegram from our hometown was addressed to my father; it contained no more than ten words: "Junfeng and Junxian have bought tickets to Xinjiang."

Li Junfeng is here too?

Li Long was somewhat surprised. Junfeng had come twice, made money twice, and then went back home. He had a son at home, and at the time, he actually had the same opportunity as Junshan to become a worker.

But unlike Junshan, he is already married, has a son, and his parents are still alive and well, taking good care of him. They haven't separated their households.

So I never intended to stay in Xinjiang, so why did I suddenly come here now?

"Isn't it because we're broke?" Li Jianguo sighed and said.

"As soon as the telegram arrived, my father called home to ask. He said his son was going to school and couldn't make money from the fields. The money he earned in the past two years in northern Xinjiang had been almost all spent."

Most of the people from our hometown team went to work in the southern coastal areas. My father had high requirements, so not many people wanted to come. However, Junxian's family lived next door to Junshan's family and knew some things about the situation, so he thought about coming over.

Junfeng somehow heard the news and insisted on coming along, essentially arriving without prior notice.

Li Long understood that since the person had already bought the tickets, there was nothing he could do to stop them from coming.

But this time he wasn't planning on being a pushover. He'd given Junfeng a chance last time, but Junfeng didn't want to stay, so there was nothing he could do. This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity; now he was looking for long-term workers, not someone to do the same thing again.

Besides, that time it was mainly about his second brother's affairs, but this time it's much further away. He and Junfeng's father share the same grandfather, and he's even further removed from Junxian, though they're not beyond the fifth degree of kinship, they're practically the same.

“Then come on over,” Li Long said. “Anyway, we have plenty of land, so there’s plenty of work to do. You and your sister-in-law can take a break. If all else fails, we can recommend you to other families.”

“That’s the problem, and this is the only way we can do it.” Li Jianguo shook his head. “Your second brother called and said that your sister-in-law’s younger brother is bored back home and is thinking of going out to try his luck.”

Their family heard back in their hometown that we were hiring long-term workers, and your second sister-in-law's younger brother was thinking of coming over to work for a few months.

"Hey!" Li Long chuckled. "Before, everyone thought that the northern frontier was a harsh and cold place, and that coming here to work was just asking for trouble. Nobody wanted to come. But now, everyone is taking the initiative to come."

“What should we do then? Although we have nearly a hundred acres of land, we don’t need that many people.” Li Jianguo sighed. “Let’s see what happens and then make arrangements.”

"If my second brother's brother-in-law isn't coming, fine. But if he is, let my second brother figure it out himself." Li Long chuckled. "Just because he's a worker doesn't mean he's all that. Does he think he can make decisions here? If I had just made a phone call a few days ago, there wouldn't have been so much trouble. Do you want to act first and ask questions later?"

Li Jianguo was actually resentful of his second brother, but he couldn't say it in front of his youngest brother.

What Li Long said was actually what he wanted to say, but by saying it in front of his father, he saved himself the trouble.

Li Jianguo always had the idea of ​​considering the big picture, thinking that since he had already come, the die was cast, and at most he would just pay a few hundred yuan at the end of the year to get rid of him. He didn't expect Li Long to be so ruthless.

“Your second brother will definitely have a hard time finding work.” Li Jianguo shook his head. “I’ll ask around in the team.”

“Actually, it can be good practice.” Li Long suddenly thought of planting cotton. “If we can really do the work, we can plant cotton next year.”

Growing cotton requires a lot of manpower at this time, and money can definitely be made; it just depends on whether these people are willing to work hard.

Li Jianguo's former company had grown cotton before, but he didn't grow it himself, though he knew how.

So after some hesitation, I realized this might be a viable option.

“We’re not just growing cotton. If they can put in the hard work, we can grow more cash crops on the land we’ve cleared next year, along with the land we have at home,” Li Long said. “We’ll provide accommodation, and food won’t cost much. The rest depends on whether they can work.”

“That’s right.” The old man, who hadn’t spoken until now, interjected, “Even if they’re relatives, if they can’t do the work, we don’t want them. I’ll be the bad guy. If they can’t do the work, they should go back home as soon as possible.”

He was feeling a bit uncomfortable because he hadn't handled things well this time, and he was thinking about how to make amends.

"If you don't do it, who will?" Du Chunfang, who had been sitting huddled by the door, said irritably. "They agreed on everything on the phone, but now it's turned out like this?"

Old Man Li Qingxia subconsciously defended himself:

"So, am I supposed to tie someone's legs up?"

"Couldn't you have asked them not to spread the word?"

"How do we find out? How many mouths can we shut up?"

"Dad, Mom, it's alright," Li Long hurriedly reassured them. "We have nearly a hundred acres of land. If a few people come over, there will be work for them. Let's wait for them to arrive first. Maybe they can actually do some work."

Once Li Long opened his mouth, his mother fell silent, knowing that whatever her youngest son said was right.

"Then let's wait." Li Jianguo knew that this was the only way. They couldn't actually go and select people, and even if they did, how many people over there would truly understand the situation?
Liang Yuemei remained silent throughout. She had nothing to say about her in-laws' affairs. If anyone were to come, as Li Long had said, those who could do it would do it, and those who couldn't would simply not be allowed to come next year.

It's actually that simple.

Li Long then asked his elder brother if anyone in the team could afford to hire long-term laborers. Li Jianguo thought for a moment and said, "Only the Wang family. Other families don't have as much land as we do. They've opened up land in the last two years, but it's only the kind that's ten or twenty mu, and every family can manage to cultivate it."

Old Wang's family owns about one or two hundred acres of land. Although they mostly grow wheat, someone has to harvest it.

Cotton planting has not yet begun, so the saline-alkali land can only be considered wasteland for now.

Li Long thought that perhaps the solution was just around the corner. Anyway, if they were really going to find farmhands, it wouldn't make much difference whether they found one or several. As long as they could find some, they could cultivate cotton on the saline-alkali land.

As long as you work hard, I'm willing to pay you. Generally speaking, hiring a few people to cultivate dozens of acres with the income from a few acres of land is definitely profitable.

Perhaps this set a precedent for these four teams to grow cotton.

A few years ago, the land was distributed to individual households in one go. In 1997 and 1998, the land was contracted out again. After that, people could reclaim large areas of saline-alkali land and become landlords.

Even after all this time, and despite being so wealthy, Li Long still wants to be a landlord and collect rent.

He quickly and efficiently resolved the issue of the upcoming resettlement of his clansmen, and then there was nothing else to do.

With the wheat harvest approaching, everyone is preparing their tools and setting up threshing grounds. Thanks to Li Long, fewer people in the fourth team are using sickles these past two years. In the past, everyone had to sharpen their sickles before harvesting wheat, otherwise the harvesting would be slow and inefficient.

Now that we have combine harvesters, almost no one harvests wheat by hand anymore. That work is too difficult, and nobody wants to endure the hardship.

So the sickles were still sharpened, but used less often. Most of the time, people would go to Weihu and Xiaohaizi to cut some reeds to make the waistbands for tying wheat bundles.

“Old Wang’s family grows a lot of wheat, and I heard they’re planning to hire Kangmaiyin to harvest it,” Li Jianguo sighed. “His family is considered quite wealthy, so it’ll be much easier for them to harvest it. They can just collect the wheat directly. It’s just a pity that the wheat stalks have all fallen to the ground.”

At this time, grain farming not only emphasizes ensuring that every grain is harvested and stored, but also about making the best use of resources.

After the wheat was harvested and threshed, the wheat was handed over as grain to the state, the wheat scraps were used to feed chickens, the wheat husks were used to make mounds of soil, and the wheat straw was sold directly to paper mills.

There was almost no waste.

But if you use stalks to harvest wheat, you can get the wheat, but you won't get any leftover wheat scraps, stubble, or straw.

Even if the wheat harvest is not done well, a large amount of wheat may be missed in the field.

This is similar to the cotton harvesting machines after large-scale cotton planting; it depends on both the machine and the driver. If the machine is not operated properly or is intentionally not operated correctly, the yield of 500 kilograms of cotton per acre can be reduced to 450 kilograms, and the rest will be wasted in the field.

That's why Li Jianguo said that.

After all, we won't have many more years to be able to eat our fill.

We can't afford to waste it.

However, the Wang family's approach was not wrong. Even if a combine harvester were used to harvest wheat from one or two hundred acres of land, where would they find such a large threshing ground? And how many days would it take to harvest it?
Overall, it has both advantages and disadvantages.

"Xiaolong, can you bring in more people to your purchasing station?" Old Man Li Qingxia asked. "If my second son's wife's younger brother comes over and can't handle the job, and it's difficult to settle him down there, can you find him some work?"

“I can’t find anyone.” Li Long waved his hand. “I have enough people on my side. They’re doing a good job right now, so I can’t fire them. Besides, even though they’re relatives, they might not be able to do the work. If we really need more people than we can handle here, I’ll assign them to herd sheep at Old Horse Farm.”

The old man pursed his lips, thinking that this must be a joke.

That's the situation; Li Long clearly doesn't want to do that kind of thing anymore.

He didn't intend to turn his purchasing station and jerky processing workshop into a family business. It wasn't that he didn't trust the people from his hometown; it was mainly because they were doing very well, with good profits and high work enthusiasm.

If someone is suddenly brought in and does a good job, that's great. But if they don't do a good job and then cause trouble because they're Li Long's relative, that would be quite troublesome.

Unless a new work environment is created, Li Long will not send any more people to his side.

“Dad, don’t think too much. We have so much land, we can settle two or three people.” Li Jianguo said, “When they come, some of them can come with me to harvest wheat in the team first. Don’t let them think that making money in northern Xinjiang is easy.”

As long as you're willing to work hard, the money is easy to earn. But if you think you can just do a sloppy job and expect to get paid, that's not going to work.

Let's just let this go and talk about it when the other person arrives.

With a few days left before he was to pick up the framed painting in Urumqi, Li Long drove to Kuitun the next day.

The blueprints for the sprayer are almost complete. As a farmer, he has a lot of farm work to do, and cotton is naturally the most familiar crop to him.

Although cotton hasn't been planted yet in this life, everything that needs to be considered has been taken into account.

Director Du listened to Li Long explain his original intention and ideas for designing the medicine jar in his office.

"So you want the same profit-sharing method as the snowplow?" Factory Director Du asked.

“Sure.” Li Long naturally had no objections. In less than a year, the snowplow had brought Li Long a considerable income.

According to Factory Director Du, the market for snow removal machines will exist for a long time. Even if it's not as popular as it is now in a couple of years, and many imitations appear, our factory was the first to develop it, and our brand will remain.

As long as the quality is up to standard, those government agencies and institutions will definitely still want to purchase machines from their own factories.

Therefore, Li Long can receive a considerable amount of dividends every year.

"My main concern right now is whether you'll get a promotion, Lao Du, and if you do, will the contract I signed with the factory still be legally valid?" That's what Li Long is thinking about now.

Director Du knew that Li Long's concerns were not unfounded. After all, the rise and fall of policies with the departure of officials is a common occurrence in history.

"Comrade Li Long, you can rest assured on this point," Director Du said with a smile. "If it were before, I really wouldn't dare to guarantee it to you. But things are different now. The city is very clear about the factory's performance over the past two years."

As the main person in charge of this process, my abilities have been recognized by the city. Therefore, with the approval of the Ili Prefecture government after being petitioned by the city, our factory has been upgraded, and my rank has been raised accordingly. So, I won't be leaving in the short term.”

"That's great." Li Long smiled. "In that case, I can confidently hand over this technology to you. We have a solid foundation for cooperation, so there's no need for so much wrangling."

You can't blame Li Long for being cautious; he really values ​​this medicine pot technology, thinking that he can make a profit from it for at least the next twenty or thirty years.

If this contract isn't handled well, and if Director Du leaves after two years, then he'd rather not sign the contract at all.

Now that Director Du has made a promise, he can rest assured.

It would be even better if Director Du could stay until the restructuring.

Factory Director Du asked his assistant to fetch the contract. Li Long glanced at the contract; its contents were almost identical to the snow removal machine contract—it was practically just a name change.

"Comrade Li Long, the contract is here. I need to take a look at your design. If the design is good, then we can sign the contract now. I know your capabilities, but as a factory director, I have to be responsible for the factory."

Director Du's earnest explanation was readily accepted by Li Long.

So he took out the simple blueprints he had brought with him and began to explain them to Director Du while pointing them out.

Li Long didn't explain some relatively crucial points that seemed insignificant here. He focused on explaining the working principle of the medicine pot.

This place is an agricultural machinery factory, and as the person in charge, Director Du naturally needs to deal with agriculture frequently. So, he understood some of the principles as soon as Li Long explained them.

It's the kind of thing that you understand immediately.

Kuitun is home to the 7th Agricultural Division of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, and the area under cotton cultivation in the 7th Division is quite large. Therefore, Director Du is aware of the extent of losses when cotton pests are severe.

"Not bad, not bad!" Director Du exclaimed repeatedly as he listened to Li Long's explanation. "It's actually just a large sprayer, but it's quite simple and convenient to control."

"Sigh, no wonder you sometimes say that design and invention are like a piece of paper—you can see right through it with a touch, but without that touch, most people wouldn't even think of it."

“However, this is quite specialized,” Li Long pointed out the current shortcomings of the medicine jar. “At present, it is only designed for cotton. But the cotton planting area is not large in the entire northern Xinjiang region, so in the short term, the efficiency of this medicine jar will not be very high.”

"But you're betting that this cotton industry will expand and become a pillar industry?" Director Du recalled Li Long's words.

“Yes, in the future, the planting area of ​​cotton may expand to be larger than that of grain crops.” Director Du found Li Long’s words to be exaggerated.

"It doesn't need to be more than grain. As long as it reaches half or even a third of the grain acreage, the sales of this medicine pot won't be bad." Director Du was actually quite optimistic. As a director who was currently very influential in the city, he had access to more information than Li Long.

Therefore, he is also confident about the future of this medicine pot.

After signing and stamping the contract, Li Long explained some details after Director Du gathered the technical staff together.

For example, the distance between the two wheels of the medicine bottle, and the flexible tubing that folds and unfolds, cannot be fixed to the frame and need to be adjustable.

Although it's just a small detail, these details are enough to affect the sales of medicine bottles.

If a medicine pot is produced but then goes into the field and can't fit between two cotton plants, either pressing down on the cotton on the left or the cotton on the right, who would dare to buy it?
If the spray hose is fixed and cannot be adjusted, some pesticide may be sprayed into empty areas, resulting in waste.

There were several details, and after Li Long finished explaining, Director Du jokingly said to him:
"Comrade Li, I've noticed you've become cunning. Why didn't you tell me these details earlier? Were you afraid I'd steal your secrets?"

"Not at all," Li Long chuckled. "We were just focusing on the technical principles of the sprayer's tank, so there's no need to go into these details."

"You always have your reasons," Factory Director Du said with a smile, shaking his head. "But your thinking is indeed very thoughtful. Do you grow cotton at home?"

"No, we plan to start planting next year," Li Long said. "I went to two townships in the north of our county where cotton is grown. When I went to investigate, I listened to what the local farmers said and then considered these details."

"Indeed, we still have to come from the masses and go back to the masses," Director Du exclaimed. "The wisdom of the masses should not be underestimated. In this respect, you are better than us!"

Li Long also felt ashamed.

As the situation was set up, Li Long told Director Du that he wanted to get a harvester from the Shicheng sales point.

"No problem, you know the person in charge there, just go and mention it." Director Du waved his hand dismissively, "We're partners, you don't even need to tell me about this little thing."

Look, that's what vision looks like.

After finishing his business, Li Long ate lunch at the factory canteen and then went to his second brother's house.

He brought some things to his second brother's family: grain, cooked offal brought from Shicheng, and a whole sheep skeleton (the meat wasn't completely removed).

Regardless, this is my second brother, and since I have some free time, I should still take a look.

When Li Long arrived at his second brother's house, he happened to see his brother leaving for work, so he quickly unloaded the things.

Li Anguo was in a hurry to get to work and didn't say much to Li Long, telling him to stay and come back for dinner later that evening.

Li Long couldn't stay any longer, so he simply drove after his second brother, who was riding a bicycle, and chatted all the way to his workplace before driving back home.

(End of this chapter)